Stargazing
by Shaddowwww
Summary: AU. Excerpt: "Every night, she slept with the stars." InuKag. {Rated T for profanity and violence.}


_Summary: AU. Excerpt: "Every night, she slept with the stars." InuKag. {Rated T for profanity and violence.}_

 _ **disclaimer: i own nothing. while the storyline is mine, the original idea belongs to musicbird on wattpad.**_

* * *

 **~ Stargazing ~**

* * *

Every night, she slept with the stars.

The first time he saw her, she was at the top of the hill, lying down on her back with her head resting in her hands, staring at the billions of stars above her.

Her long hair fell in a slightly wavy, silky raven fan around her head. She wore a gentle pink faux top with strings that criss-crossed in intricate designs across her front, as well as a pair of tight blue jeans. A black bomber jacket completed the look, and immediately he knew she was not homeless or lost - if anything, she looked quite rich and sure of herself and her sense of direction.

Suddenly, he felt rather out of place in his casual collared shirt and blue jeans.

He approached her cautiously - rich as she may be, there was no telling whether or not she'd be psychotic (for lack of a better word).

She seemed unaware of his presence at first, so he was perfectly content with simply standing behind her - half watching the stars and half keeping his eyes on her.

Then she spoke.

"You come here often?"

The sudden conversation threw him for a loop, and he found himself scrambling for something to say. "Yeah. Well, no, not since today. Uh, tonight."

Inwardly, he groaned. _Real smooth._

She giggled, the sound pleasant; nothing at all like those annoying, usually nasally ones he was used to.

"Uh, why? How about you?"

"I come here everyday," she responded with a smile. "Or, rather, every night."

"Why?"

"To watch the stars - what else?"

 _Lots of things,_ he wanted to say, but kept his mouth shut. Getting on this girl's bad side was definitely _not_ on his to-do list.

"I see," was all he could come up with instead, and he watched as the girl smiled and gestured that he lie next to her.

"So, what's your name?" she asked him when he did.

"Inuyasha. Inuyasha Taisho. Yours?"

"Kagome Higurashi."

"It's nice to meet you, Kagome."

"Likewise," she responded, and with nothing left to say, they both silently opted for staring at the moonless sky instead.

After a very long while of awkward and almost unbearable silence, Inuyasha finally decided he couldn't take it anymore, and glanced at his watch. It read _3:05._

"Well, I need to go now," he told the girl next to him, rather awkwardly. "Early morning and all."

When she didn't respond, Inuyasha frowned. Thinking he'd said something wrong, he looked over at her. "Hey, you oka-"

And he promptly cut himself off when he saw long, heavy lashes below eyelids covering undoubtedly tired brown eyes. She was asleep.

Smiling slightly and dusting off dirt from his jeans after standing up, he left her there to rest.

And hours later, when the sun appeared and the stars had long gone, Kagome woke up and smiled; somehow, she knew the silver-haired CEO would be back.

* * *

 _I fucking hate my fucking job._

Inuyasha stormed through the front doors of the building, unable to keep his rage at bay any longer.

 _I hate my job. And my secretary. And my brother. And my brother's girlfriend._

Today had turned out to be abso-fucking-lutely _godawful_.

Growling to himself, Inuyasha angrily made his way to his car, where he proceeded to drive away, ignoring Kikyo's particularly loud protests of "Inuyasha, you _must_ sign this fucking paper or I will chop your balls off" and "I swear to God, if you don't get this done by tomorrow morning I will make you will regret being born".

Even though he was the CEO of the entire company, Inuyasha had absolutely no control over his secretary - who, might he add, was batshit crazy.

Like, seriously? Why did she have to go be horrible and agree to merge with Black Spider Inc.? _Without_ his permission?

Because who even gave a shit that they were at the top of the finance chart or whatever the hell that was and were currently making over 3 billion a year? Honestly?

He wanted to control his _own_ empire, goddammit, and he was _not_ about to share it with a bunch of socially inept morons from a bullshit company.

Mergers? With _Taisho Inc.?_ Yeah, right.

Hell would _freeze over_ before that happened.

But, of course, like the dictating, power-hungry, intolerant dipshit he was, Sesshomaru forced him to sign the papers that Kikyo smugly shoved in his face because "Black Spider Inc. will help us a lot financially due to how much they make a year".

Like Inuyasha gave a flying fuck how much money Black Spider Inc. made a year. Taisho Inc. was doing just fine on its own, goddammit!

And, of course, his brother's annoyingly accommadable girlfriend, Yuka or Yura or Yuki or whatever the hell her name was stood at Sesshomaru's side the whole time, nodding her head along to whatever bullshit was spewing from his mouth. Inuyasha doubted she even understood what was going on.

It was around 10 at night when he parked his car, and the minute he did, he made his way to the hill where Kagome lay.

And there she was - this time dressed in Adidas track pants and a plain t-shirt, but still wearing the black bomber jacket; stargazing, as usual.

This time he didn't wait for an invitation before making himself comfortable beside her.

"Why do you come here every night, if I may ask?" he asked her suddenly.

There was a thoughtful pause before Kagome replied, "To escape."

"From what?"

When he was met with silence, he knew she wasn't comfortable enough with him to talk about her personal life, so he let the matter drop.

"Why do you come here?" Kagome asked.

"Well, I just started coming yesterday," Inuyasha said. "I guess I don't really have any reason in particular."

"So you just became captivated by the stars? Just like that?"

"I... guess you could say that," he replied - but, strangely, instead of the stars, he found himself staring at _her_ as he answered.

Kagome made a small sound of assent, which told Inuyasha he had said the right thing - whatever he had said. He hadn't really been paying attention.

Smiling a bit, he asked her, "Why, out of all places, do you come here? Why not the beach or something?"

She smiled sadly at him before answering. "My father. He loved stargazing here and would always invite me to join him when I was younger."

Turning away to look at the stars - or, perhaps, to avoid eye contact - she continued, "I guess it… reminds me of the better days and helps me forget the days I have now."

 _What kind of days do you have now?_ Inuyasha wanted to ask - but he knew he would only be met with silence, so he accepted the answer she was willing to give.

* * *

For the next few months, they continued to stargaze together every night. Eventually Inuyasha found the silence bearable. Eventually he even came to like the silence and appreciated it. Eventually, he realized the silence taught him more and more about the girl next to him; taught him more about someone than words ever did.

Some nights, the silence wasn't enough to teach him about her. So they talked and laughed and got to know each other. Some nights were good.

However, some nights were bad. Some nights, Inuyasha found Kagome in tears, her small form shaking while she was curled into a ball instead of the relaxed position she was usually in. The worst part was that she refused to tell him why she was crying, leaving Inuyasha with no other option but to simply lie there with her while she calmed herself down.

The day after, she'd always tell him that when she cried, she only needed someone there. She didn't need someone to listen.

Some nights, they were content with just staying silent, staring up at the sky. Some nights, no words were needed and they were just comfortable being in each other's presence.

Soon, months turned to a year, and a year turned to a few more than that, and finally, Kagome told Inuyasha one night that she was ready to tell him the real reason why she always came to that hill.

"I was telling you the truth when I said I used to stargaze with my father," she said. "I wasn't telling you the whole truth when I said I was here to escape. I mean, that was the truth, just not all of it... Anyway, just listen, don't speak, don't act recklessly. Because I lied when I said I didn't need someone to listen.

"Let me just start off by saying," Kagome began, inhaling deeply, "I live in an abusive household."

Inuyasha's mouth opened to say, _Still?_ but she shook her head, silently telling him, _No interrupting._

Once she started, she wouldn't be able to stop. Kagome herself was quite aware of that fact - which was one of the many reasons why she never told anyone.

When she first began, she was cautious not to tell Inuyasha too much - she knew it was rather overwhelming information.

First, she started with her real parents.

"They are not my biological family, except my younger brother. But he's not being abused - only I am. He doesn't know about how they've been treating me, and I'd rather it stay that way. He's got enough on his back, what with him being in college now and everything.

"I live in a foster home because both of my parents were killed in a car accident. I was… I was in the car with them when it happened. It was the huge earthquake in 2003. Obviously, we were living in Hokkaido at the time. I was born in 1996, so I was around... seven or eight when it hit. We had just finished running some errands and were on our way home. Souta was already there, being babysat by the woman who is now my mother. She always loved him but always hated me. I never did find out why.

"Anyway, we were driving home and I was in the backseat when there was this rumble from beneath the car, and the road began shaking, and everyone started freaking out. Then the bridge we were driving on just… collapsed."

Taking in a shaky breath but refusing to let her voice tremble, Kagome continued. "Dad tried to stop the car, but we were on a freeway, so we were going kind of fast to begin with. Needless to say, it was too late, so Dad swerved the car last minute to avoid the collapsed part of the bridge, but then we drove right off.

"Somehow, our car got tangled within the suspender cables of the bridge, so we were trapped there for some time. However, because of the way the bridge collapsed and the area in which our car was situated, large pieces of the bridge came raining down on us. My mother turned in her seat and reached out towards me, yelling at me to take her hand so she could tug me to her. I still remember missing her hand and accidentally pulling the wedding ring off her finger before a huge piece of the bridge fell on top of the car, pretty much snapping it in half and crushing my parents with it."

With shaking hands, Kagome pulled a gold chain from underneath her shirt, revealing a beautiful wedding ring. She showed it to him before continuing.

"By some miracle - or curse, I still can't decide which one - the half of the car I was in fell into the water, and I managed to grab onto the pliers of the bridge and crawl my way to a safer side of the bridge. They found me because of how loud I was crying."

Kagome stopped, obviously fighting back tears, and took deep breaths. Inuyasha didn't know what to do except not let her go.

"If you don't want to-"

"No," she said, cutting him off, and looking him straight in the eye. "I have to do this. If I don't do it now, I never will. I need this."

Nodding, Inuyasha fell silent and allowed her to continue.

Kagome now switched to her foster family - how she was introduced to them and the very beginning of the abuse.

"In the very beginning, it was just neglect. It was easy to deal with at first, especially since I was still shaken from witnessing my parents' death and wasn't interested in getting used to living with a new family anyway. Or anyone at all. But then, years later, when I was around ten I think, I realized that the pain was only getting worse when I shut everyone out. At first, I thought they ignored me because I ignored them. So I began trying to open up more; I tried to get better and tried to shake myself from my depressed state.

"However, they never spoke to me at all. When I asked them a question, they'd continue their conversation as if I didn't say anything at all. It was as if I never existed. Soon, I became discouraged by everything they did - or rather, what they _didn't_ do - and began shutting myself in once more. Everything kind of went in a downward spiral from there."

Kagome laughed bitterly before continuing. She talked about how the neglect went from just that to forcing her to make her own dinner. She wiped her eyes as she explained how she was never welcome to sit and eat at the dinner table with her family, and how they came up with excuses like, "Kagome needs to finish homework" when Souta asked why she never ate dinner with them. She told him how she ate cereal for dinner almost every night because she was never taught how to make a proper meal until she was forced to learn on her own after noticing her unhealthy weight gain.

She talked about how they never brought her to the doctor's' office, and how they forced her to figure out what to do when she wasn't feeling good. They forced her to figure out what kinds of medicine she needed to use on her own, and didn't help her at all.

She told Inuyasha about how they'd continuously forget her at school, leaving her there until 6 o'clock before they finally came and picked her up. She talked about how they never checked her grades, they never asked her how her day was, they never yelled at her, they never apologized. They treated her as if she wasn't even there.

She told him how even though she knew there were three other people in the house, it was as if she was alone. They had isolated her, and she had to fend for herself. Eventually, even Souta became accustomed to her being excluded. She told him she even went silent for a few years - because what was the point of talking if no one would listen?

Kagome was on a roll, and it didn't seem as if Inuyasha was the least bit bothered by her spilling everything out. In fact, he looked intrigued - if not angered beyond words - at what she was telling him, and so, comforted by the fact that he was interested in her childhood and genuinely cared, she continued.

She didn't stop.

"The actual hitting began when I turned fourteen and I tried to go out with friends. I figured, 'they ignore me all the time anyway, who would it hurt if I went out with some friends tonight and forget everything they've done?' Rational enough, right? Because if they didn't care if I got sick and they didn't care that I was surviving off cereal and milk and leftovers everyday, surely they wouldn't care if I went out with some friends for a few hours. But I was wrong. Oh, I was so wrong.

"I didn't tell them where I was going or when I'd be back because it wasn't as if they were going to acknowledge me anyway. So I just left."

Kagome's mouth lifted into a bitter smile.

"Being with my friends that night were the best hours of my life. Of course they didn't know about my life at home, and I didn't plan to tell them. They were the kind of people who only really cared about their own problems and tended to brush off others'. The only reason I kept them around was because they were the only people I had. The only people who wouldn't ignore me. The only people who saw me as a worthy human being, even if they disregarded what I was going through. And at that point, I didn't trust anyone else to treat me that way, so I stuck with it.

"When I got home, it was around eleven at night. My parents were not pleased with my sudden disappearance, and demanded to know where I was, how long I was out, and who I was with. It was the longest verbal exchange I had with them throughout the entire seven years I was with them, and it fueled some deep rage in me that I guess I always had but was too scared to unleash.

"I screamed at them - I can't remember what I said exactly, but it was something along the lines of, 'You've been ignoring me for so long! And now, when you think I might tell people that you've been abusing me all these years, you suddenly care?' At first, it was just meaningless blabber for them to get the fuck off my case, but then they fell silent. And it was then that I realized how true my words were. The only reason why they were questioning me was not because they were worried for me. Oh, no, they could care less if I was kidnapped by some serial killer or if I got hit by a truck. No, the reason why they were interrogating me was because they were worried for themselves. They were scared that I told someone that they were abusing me!"

Kagome told him how she had continued to scream at them - tell them how much she had been hurting because of them and how they didn't deserve her, or Souta, or anything at all.

"It was then Mom decided she had had enough, and, using the rice paddle she had in her hand… she whacked me across the face with it. Everyone was shocked into silence. If lost in my thoughts for too long, I can still recall the stinging of it and the bumps and slight burns it left," she added.

She talked about how she ran away after that, into her room, where she slammed and locked the door, as well as shut the windows and curled up into a ball on her bed and sobbed for hours.

Then she told him about how her mother's hitting her must have made them braver, because they kept doing it. Every time she did something wrong or stepped out of line, she got some sort of physical punishment.

"There's a fine, fine line between corporal punishment and abuse. And my parents crossed that line."

Eventually, just hitting her wasn't enough for them, and they began making up outlandish stories as excuses to beat her. They no longer gave her any privacy - in fact, they put up security cameras in her room. The good news was that she had broken them during her junior year of high school, and her parents hadn't bothered to check them after that.

Before she destroyed them, however, she had managed to unlock the code on her parents' computer and save a few videos in which the camera had recorded her mother whipping her and trying to strangle her with a belt in her room. She told him that, with the help of the internet, she had exported the videos onto a spare flash drive that she found in her closet, and that she had kept it with her just in case she was brave enough to report her situation to authorities.

Kagome's tears had long stopped. Instead, there was a scary look of emptiness in her eyes, and Inuyasha was unnerved by the sight. He pulled her closer to him.

"I'm 22, Inuyasha! I'm 22, a fucking _adult_ , and they haven't stopped hitting me. They didn't let me go to college, they won't let me move out or get employed by anyone. I'm not even allowed to work at fucking McDonald's. And yet, they're always on my back about not contributing to the fucking bills every month.

"That's why I've secretly gotten myself a job at your company." Kagome smirked when she saw Inuyasha's mouth drop. "Yeah. I've been working there for the past five years at least. I started working there before my senior year in high school. I'm Sesshomaru's personal assistant, which is why you never see me. Well, I ask him to keep my job a secret, so that's probably another reason. I get paid well, but I never pay for anything at home because then my parents would get suspicious. I've been saving up for my own house, though.

"Not too long ago, I used one of my lunch breaks to talk to a therapist. And they recommended a psychiatrist. I was diagnosed with PTSD. I still haven't really come to terms with my diagnosis yet, though I'm taking medicine. I tried talking to a friend about it, but she got scared and blew me off. It's awkward at work now, because she never talks to me anymore. I had started off with my diagnosis, and that scared her out of her designer pants. Sometimes I wonder how she'd have reacted if I told her about my childhood."

With a start, Inuyasha realized the reason why Kagome had taken so long to open up to him.

"And to answer the first question you asked me oh-so-long ago, I stargaze to escape the household. The abuse is what I meant when I said stargazing reminded me of the better days and helped me forget about the days I have now. And… that's pretty much all of it."

Inuyasha took a minute to take all of this new information in, and realized just then how much better it would be if she had told him all this in small amounts. His brain was going haywire.

But he was grateful that she trusted him enough to tell him about her childhood.

Finally, he asked her, "How do you manage to fit everything in? Like work, and then spend all night stargazing?"

"I try my best. Sometimes it's out of my control; I make up excuses on the spot if Sesshomaru decides to keep me overtime to handle some things for him. As for the stargazing, I sneak out when my parents are asleep. I sleep out here all the time because it's almost suffocating in that goddamn house. It's more peaceful out here, and I don't have to think about them. They always wake up at around noon, anyway, and since recently, always hungover. Or high. By then I'm at work, having already made their breakfast hours ago. For the most part, they wake up, eat breakfast, get drunk, maybe take a few hits, and go back to sleep." She shrugged.

Falling silent, Inuyasha took the remaining information in and stared at the stars for a while longer, feeling rather overwhelmed. Just then, a thought occurred to him.

"Having you ever thought about running away?" he asked her.

"Oh, many times," Kagome responded. "The only thing that stopped me was the fact that I had nowhere else to go. If I ran away, I'd be homeless. I doubt my _parents_ " - she spat the word as if it were a curse - "would care if I did so. They'd let me figure out that I couldn't have survived in the world without them, and soon I realized that if I ever did decide to run away, there would be no way I could ever come back."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, once I ran away I'd be out of their hair permanently. They probably wouldn't want to take me back. And even if they _did_ take me back, they'd probably beat me to death."

Inuyasha was unnerved at how she had said that so nonchalantly - as if they had already beaten her to death.

"But after working under Sesshomaru for over five years, you've got to have enough to survive on your own," he pointed out. "You probably have enough by now to get a nice apartment. Sesshomaru's a dick, but he pays really well. Of course, _I_ pay well, too, but that's besides the point."

Kagome raised an eyebrow at his last statement, but did not comment on it. "Well, yes, but even so, they're _family._ "

"Now you're just coming up with bullshit excuses, and you know it," he spat. "No _family_ could ever beat up a fucking child. No _family_ could ever neglect or abuse a seven year old who had just gone through the death of their parents!"

"They may not be the best family on the planet, but they adopted me. Legally, they're no longer my guardians though, so I don't really see why I haven't left yet…" Kagome tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Good. You've finally gathered your wits about you," Inuyasha said, ignoring Kagome's protest of "what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

After a comfortable silence, and completely out of the blue, Inuyasha said, "Move in with me."

There was a silence, and Kagome yelled, "Are you _crazy_?"

"No," he replied calmly, not fazed in the slightest by her reaction. "But I know your parents are, and if we don't get you out of that house soon, they might make you crazy, too."

Those words made Kagome feel warm inside, because even though he knew about her diagnosis, he didn't think she was crazy.

When she was talking about her family issues, he did not stop once to interrupt. He did not change the subject. He did not try to interrupt after that one time in the very beginning. He listened to her, and Kagome realized that having someone to just listen; to have someone that would just let her pour out everything and all of her inner turmoil was truly the way to heal her shattered heart. Not the prescribed medication. That was only to help her mental illness. But this?

This was _truly_ healing her. And Kagome truly felt as if she was on the road to recovery.

And as Inuyasha watched her as she nodded and turned away with a smile to look back at the stars - which were, by now, beginning to disappear - he realized that she was no different from him (minus the abusive household)… except for one thing.

The only difference was, she was someone who had simply been forced to grow up too fast.

"Alright."

Startled, Inuyasha snapped his gaze to her. "What?"

Smiling at him, Kagome said, "Alright - I'll move in with you."

It took a minute for that to sink in, and when it did, Inuyasha perked right up, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Really?"

"Yes," she responded, the smile on her face beginning to widen - and it was then that Inuyasha noticed that when she smiled - _really_ smiled - her eyes held a sparkle to them, and the dimples at her cheeks deepened.

Inuyasha decided he liked that. He thought he should make her smile like that more often.

"Alright, let's figure something out, then. You said your parents sleep until noon and are usually hungover and/or high when they wake up, right?"

Kagome felt something bubble in the pit of her stomach. He had truly listened to everything she had told him. "Yeah."

"So pack your things. Everything. Like, all of it," he told her. "Thank God for the broken security cameras, or else we'd be in _deep_ shit. Good job, by the way. For breaking it, I mean. Anyway, when you finish packing - and you'd better make it snappy - come downstairs immediately and meet me outside. We can walk to my house."

"Sounds like a plan," she said, and stood up.

"Hey," he said softly, grabbing her arm before she could walk away. She turned to him, puzzled, when he planted a tender kiss to her cheek, inches from her lips. "We can get through this, okay?"

Kagome beamed at him through the slight blush on her cheeks and nodded.

* * *

Kagome ran upstairs to her room, grabbing her PINK duffle bag from her closet. She shoved all of her clothes in there, folding as much as she could. She could just iron all her nice shirts and dresses later, if need be.

Then, she emptied out her money bank and, making sure she brought all of her money, organized all the bills into her wallet. Kagome wasn't the only one who hated having to deal with coins, as Sesshomaru simply chucked a check at her every month, so she figured she could cash the checks she received from her boss after making herself comfortable at Inuyasha's house.

She left her phone on her desk, refusing to bring anything her parents had bought for her. She deleted all of her contacts and data on her phone, though, just in case her parents decided to look through it in order to track her down. She didn't bother with any miscellaneous stuff either, like blankets or bed sheets or alarm clocks. She did, however, snatch the flash drive from the depths of her closet before putting it in her bag.

She put all her shoes in a separate bag. Luckily, she didn't spend her money on a lot of shoes, as she had other things to worry about, so she only had a few pairs. Those were able to fit in her duffel bag as well.

After thoroughly cleaning out her room, Kagome made her way downstairs. Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, she wrote a quick note addressed to her parents.

 _Hi, Mom and Dad (if I can even call you that),_

 _Let me just say - you were shit parents. You never did anything right. The only good thing you did for me was take me in after my parents died, and even now I wish you hadn't._

 _I honestly could've done better on my own._

 _I have found my way after being lost for so long, and I'm moving in with a friend. A friend that I've been talking to for a while now. In short, you'll never see me again - hopefully._

 _Hey, why so upset? I'm finally out of your hair, aren't I? And if you were so worried about me telling people about my shit childhood that_ you _contributed the most to, well… maybe you should've considered that before abusing me in the_ first _place._

 _Remember, Karma exists. And you're gonna get a_ real _ass-kicking._

 _I'll be looking forward to it._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Kagome Higurashi_

 _(A.K.A The 22-year-old woman who is finally freed from her childhood hell and is going to continue working at her well-paying job that she's had for the past five years. Yeah, that's right. Suck my dick, sons of bitches.)_

 _P.S. I'm taking Souta with me, after he returns from college. He's legally an adult now, too, so you no longer have control over either of us. Feel free to get the authorities involved if you want them to find out how you've been treating me for the past 14 years. Though I'm sure they'll get involved anyway. Next time maybe you should reconsider putting up security cameras all over the house. But there won't be a next time for you, will there? After all, 14 years is a long time._

 _Have fun reassessing your life choices in a jail cell. :)_

Satisfied with what she had written, Kagome left the note on the dining room table before walking towards the door. She reached for the doorknob before stopping, turning around and taking everything in.

This was the house she pretty much grew up in. This was the house in which she moved into after her parents died. This was the house in which she was abused.

Idly fingering the beloved wedding ring around her neck, Kagome tied her black bomber jacket around her waist and tightened her grip around the rough handle of her duffel bag before running out of the house and slamming the door.

She didn't look back.

* * *

"Whoa! Your house is like a mansion on the inside!" Kagome was marveling at the size of Inuyasha's house. "It looks so small from outside!"

Inuyasha snorted. "I hired a really good architect."

"No shit," Kagome gasped. "You _must_ introduce me."

"Sure, once he comes back to life."

Kagome whirled around, an incredulous and disappointed expression on her face. "He's dead?"

Inuyasha nodded. "He died a long time ago."

"Oh…" Kagome's facial features noticeably drooped, and Inuyasha held in a snicker.

She was adorable.

There was a silence before Kagome changed the subject and suggested that she should bring her belongings upstairs.

Inuyasha told her that there was a guest bedroom, and showed her where it was located (though secretly, he had hoped they'd share a bed. Oh well).

They still went stargazing every night. As it turned out, Inuyasha did not live too far away from their hill, so it wasn't too long a walk.

And she must admit, it was quite fun hearing her parents drunk and high after drinking one too many shots and taking one too many hits while the pair lay there on the hill that had brought them together.

 _Entertainment at its finest,_ she had said to Inuyasha dryly one night. He had burst into laughter at her sense of humor.

Inuyasha grabbed her hand and squeezed, burying his nose into her hair. Kagome, who was staring up at the moonless sky, smiled and squeezed back.

* * *

Kagome smiled into her pillow the next night.

That day, she had gone to the police station and filed a report against her foster parents, giving the police the evidence she had. They told her that even though it was a rather small amount of evidence, it was still something - something that they could definitely build off of.

After all, any child abuse situation was very serious. The police promised her they would look into it.

* * *

 **FOUR MONTHS LATER**

Kagome woke up on the right side of the bed, bright and alert and enthusiastic.

"Oi, Kagome!" Inuyasha called from downstairs. "Come take a look at this!"

"What is it?" Kagome responded, descending the stairs and running up to him. "What? What happened?"

Sporting a huge grin on his face, Inuyasha shoved a newspaper article in her face.

Confused, Kagome took it from him, then gasped when she read the headline.

 _ **FOSTER PARENTS ARRESTED FOR 14 YEARS OF CHILD ABUSE AND THE POSSESSION OF ILLEGAL DRUGS**_

"No way! No fucking way!"

 _Two foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Saito, have been arrested for child abuse. Astonishingly, according to their adopted daughter, Kagome Higurashi (22), and solid evidence that she provided, they had been abusing her for around 14 years, since she was seven years old._

 _The family also includes a 19-year-old son who had no idea as to what was really going on between his sister and parents. He is in college right now, and is finishing up his freshman year._

 _Police, during their investigation, had looked through the house and found potent and highly addictive drugs locked in a drawer. There were also ripped pieces of paper inside the drawer and scattered on the ground. Police believe it is a letter, though they cannot recover any of the letter's content at this time._

"Oh my God! They've been arrested! Inuyasha, I can't…"

Kagome's voice trailed off. She skimmed through her note and her eyes stopped at the end of the article.

 _A trial will be held three months from now, on August 12, 2017._

* * *

"We did it! We won, we won!"

Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Souta all joined together in one huge circle when they got home, jumping up and down excitedly.

"We won the case!"

Sango had been the councilor of their case, and had successfully beaten the other council.

Inuyasha took Kagome into his arms and crashed his lips against hers.

Kagome reveled in their first kiss. Her foster parents were finally behind bars. For life.

* * *

That night, Kagome and Inuyasha were sprawled out on the grass, atop that oh-so-familiar hill, staring at the sky with shit-eating grins on their faces.

Hours later, when the stars disappeared from the sky and the sun came up, so did they.

Every night, she slept with the stars.

But her life did an epic one-eighty and she now had someone to share them with.

And there was no way she was ever going to let him go.

Little did she know, he was thinking the exact same thing.

* * *

 **a/n: oof a long one. i really went into depth with this story, and i'm really happy with the way it turned out. this has to be one of my favorite oneshots i've written so far. i hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it! don't forget to review! :)**


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